


The Spear Wielder

by HastyGoat



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Festivals, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Konohagakure | Hidden Leaf Village, Martial Arts, Minor Canonical Character(s), Original Character(s), Post-Fourth Shinobi War, implied/referenced child murder, it is a bit of a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2019-12-30 13:59:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18316655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HastyGoat/pseuds/HastyGoat
Summary: Six months after the fourth great ninja war a stranger and her student come to Konoha from the Land of Iron. The stranger is running from her past, the student is pursuing his future and the mercenaries behind them... well, they are looking for their next paycheck.It is going to be a long two days.





	1. Alone Together

“Excuse me,” A small boy with a wooden staff pulled on the back of a tall jounin’s vest outside the livestock pens as carts and caravans moved into position on the grounds within the walls of Konoha. “Have you seen an underage drunk lady with a spear?”

 The older man seemed taken aback by the question as he examined the boy’s staff with a raised eyebrow.

 “It’s made out of metal? Has a red ribbon under the blade? The lady’s got a bad haircut?”

 The older man looked increasingly confused.

 “You haven’t then? Thanks!” He scampered off down the road checking in every bar, inn and teahouse on the way down the packed main road as locals set up booths and decorations for a festival. It was why the two of them had such an easy time getting in. No one bothered looking twice at travelers and caravan guards.

 The two of them had left the Land of Iron after a series of events that Ren was not very clear on, Kai just knew she had been chased out and he had decided to follow the woman who had freed the people from a vicious tyrant who had ground the town under his heel.

 The village saw a new villain in heroic guise, Kai saw a real heroine who he would follow anywhere. Which he did, across two nations before he caught up with her and convinced her to make him her student in the art of the spear.

 He pulled the sleeve of an older woman and asked her about underage drunks with spears, he hung his head dejectedly as she told him no but to try further down the street. Kai was gone in a flash, peaking through windows and popping his head into restaurants and stalls he passed as he made his way down the road.

 This festival was going to begin tomorrow and last for three days and this whole village was alight with an indescribable energy that made Kai shiver in anticipation. He picked up an event flier from one of the teashops he popped into and read the list, stopping short at _hand to hand combat tournament_ and grinned widely.

 His teacher would love this!

* * *

 

Ren Hagane was not drunk or _a_ drunk. Today. Two weeks ago her now student had found her in a seedy bar that did not check your age before selling, and she was halfway through the bottle. Was he going to let it go? No. Not after she staggered and fell into the full horse trough and almost drowned in six inches of water.

 Granted, it did sober her up.

 At present, she was in a bar trying to see if she could find a form of work that would not tie her down to village life for too long. In a thriving village full of ninjas six months into a postwar peacetime, she doubted she could get another caravan escort job in a hurry unless she got lucky.

 The people were… better then the last place she had tried to stay in.

 Meaning they had not tried to shove a knife in her back yet. Major plus.

 She propped her elbow on the bar and motioned for the the purest sake on the menu. The barman looked at her and shook his head, pinning her correctly as to young to drink with a glance before serving the other chattering customers at the bar. Ren laughed quietly. Smart man.

 Ren got to her feet and cracked her back with a groan. She was a slight, thin girl of roughly seventeen, her hair was and messy unevenly cut. She checked the pockets of her pants for loose change before kneeling down to adjust her well worn sandals.

 At first glance, she did not look dangerous until her weapons came into view. The long metal spear strapped to her back behind her small knapsack was an interesting weapon from an older time that was clearly well used, but instead of a wooden shaft it was carefully crafted with fine metal and iron from top of bottom. There was a bright red ribbon tied under the blade to help personalize the weapon and distract her opponent in battle. If one got close enough to notice, she carried a short sword at her hip, hidden carefully in the folds of a knee length olive colored jacket.

 Her student said she looked a bit like a vagrant cart hopper, Ren would agree with him.

 She checked her belt pocket for her (empty) money pouch and felt her teeth grind together and her fists clench. Ren would have her revenge.

 A weird looking man in green spandex who liked to start bar fights should not be this hard to find!

 Stepping carefully through the door and into the evening light, Ren yawned loudly and peered down the street for a place to sleep. Being in a proper village for a few days was a nice distraction from her usual adventures.

 She made an effort to not repeat things like the cult incident for example.

 Now, where was Kai?

 As if answering her thought, her errant student came running down the road, his russet hair mussed and olive skin in full glisten from his run in with the livestock they were helping to escort in town for the festival.

  _“Sensei!”_

 Ren waved as Kai skidded to a stop in the dirt road and caught his breath. Ren passed him the water jug from her pack which he sipped at gratefully.

 “Mission complete! The livestock are in the enclosure and I got paid.” He held up a small bag of coins and jingled it with a grin.

 “Good job,” Ren ruffled his hair affectionately as he passed the water jug back to Ren to be put away. “I may have a place for us to stay tonight.”

 “Really? I thought they said there wasn’t a spare room in town?”

 Ren smirked, “There’s not, but there is a training ground at the edge of town we can stay in as long as we’re not noticed. Still got the hammocks?”

 Kai smiled, pocketing his money and pointed at his backpack. “Sure do!”

 “All the other vagrants are probably going to spend the night in the bath house or in their carts, so we’ll probably get this place to ourselves.” Ren threw her arm over his skinny shoulders and pulled him down the road as the streets began to fill with weary travelers looking for a place to relax and exchange news from the road.

 They turned down side streets just to see what was down them, climbing up fire escapes to get to roofs to get their bearings and watch the travelers find places to set up their wares for sale. Ren noted the food and clothes stands while Kai pointed at representatives from the other ninja villages asking if she had ever been to those places. Ren had been everywhere in some capacity and was happy to answer his questions.

 As Kai’s questions were answered, Ren began to adjust her backpack by taking it off and tying it to the sash at her waist, carefully checking it to make sure it would not move much before moving her spear in her hand and kneeling down. Kai took the hint and wrapped his arms around her neck as she put her remaining hand under one of his knees. Ren took off at a run and jumped from rooftop to rooftop gracefully landing like a cat each time without breaking stride.

 “Keep your eyes open for a grove of trees in the city wall.” She staggered on the next rooftop before regaining her footing.

 “Have you been drinking again?” Kai tightened his grip around her neck as she made another leap.

 “Sadly, no.” Ren reached out to grab a laundry line to regain her balance, “If I was, this would be a little less embarrassing.”

 “I think you need food.”

 “Probably.”

 They both looked in opposite directions, scanning the horizon carefully. There was an excited noise from Kai, “Over there!” Kai pointed at a grove of trees on the far side of town.

 “Perfect! We’ll get closer and walk in okay.”

 Ren took off at a run, continuing to leap and scramble over rooftops until they got a block away from the forest entrance and dropped down into an alleyway, narrowly missing a trash bin in the process. Kai slipped off Ren’s back and began to check his pockets, sighing in relief when he touched his wallet and pulling a piece of paper out of his other pocket.

 “What are you hiding?”

 “Well,” Kai handed Ren the flier to read. The festival had a list of events one of which he had circled. “They’re offering a reward to the winner. A big one.”

 Ren felt her face flush at the number. Hand to hand combat tournament, fantastic! Terrible! But fantastic!

 “You are worried about money. If you win, eat something besides instant ramen while you train me.”

 And they could put a down payment on an apartment rental with some left over. Ren could teach a couple of classes, and get a second job while they laid low for a couple of months. She was sure there was a blacksmith in this town who could use some help or a innkeeper who needed more cleaners.

 “Are you complaining about my ramen choices?” Ren joked.

 Kai seemed to miss the joke and immediately started shaking his head, making Ren laugh as she started ruffling his hair.

 “I’ll think about it. Now c’mon, we need to find a place to sleep.”

* * *

 

“So,” Kai finished tying off his hammock high in the trees above the training ground and looked at Ren who was doing the same a few branches over. “Why are we here again?”

 “Getting off the road for a few days, that’s all.”

 “And the mercenaries we met on the road have nothing to do with it?”

 “Nothing at all.”

 “What’s the plan for after the festival?”

 Ren shrugged, Kai was smart for an eleven year old, better watch what she said around him. “Big ninja villages charge much more then we do for escort services, just gotta line something up. That’s all.” She eased herself into her hammock with a quiet sigh. “I’d like to take the opportunity to teach you a bit more staff work so you can start earning your keep.”

 Kai sat up so quickly it unbalanced his hammock slightly. “Really?”

 That worked!

 “Yeah, just don’t get cocky and you won’t get skewered.”

 “Like you’re gonna do to those mercenaries right?”

 If this hammock flipped, Ren would accept her (supposedly) broken extremities with no complaints. She just had to wish for it a little bit harder.

 “I’ll think about it.”

 They were here for three reasons. First, to find another escort job. Second, to get those mercenaries off Ren’s trail. Last of all, get even with the drunk spandex clad man who had ruined Ren’s favorite teahouse last week.

 The mere memory sent Ren into spasms, after she had finally sat down for a nice meal after three days of counting every coin she made, it all went horribly wrong in a span of two minutes. Some drunk man started trying to fight everyone and throwing people into tables, including Ren and Kai’s. Kai, devious little thing he was, had managed to save his takoyaki from the rampage by jumping out of a newly smashed window, while Ren’s curry had smashed against the wall. Ren valiantly dashed across the teahouse to try to knock out the drunk man out with the butt of her spear only to find herself thrown through a wall by a flying table and banned from the establishment along with crazy green spandex man and his friends, some woman with hair buns and a really loud blond man with one arm.

 Though, she and Kai had gotten an escort job to the Land of Mist out of it by Ren crashing into the family’s wagon on the other side of that wall, but it was really the principle of the matter. They only got paid half as Ren had destroyed valuable china on her way through their cart.

 The family was quite impressed there was not a scratch on her.

 Ren was less impressed.

 It was a petty side goal, but Ren was not in the forgive and forget department when it came to a hot meal.

 Now that Ren had a student to worry over, she had to find him supplies to learn with while they did not earn enough money to keep two people from starving. If she taught him how to use a staff efficiently, she could charge an extra half on top of her usual rate for an extra body on watch.

 It would work.

 Her life was easier on her own, but an opportunity to pass on her craft was too good to pass up.

 She just had to keep them ahead of her pursuers.

 And teach Kai the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms.

 It was quiet for a moment before Kai spoke again. “What do you do for fun?”

 Ren waved her spear around from inside of her hammock, hitting a couple of small branches above her hammock. “This. This is fun for me.”

 “So not the traveling around the world thing?”

 Ren double checked her spear sheath was tight before tucking it in next to her. “Side benefit.”

“Did you just tuck your spear into bed?”

“…Yeah. Got a problem with it?”

“Nope! It’s cool.”

There was the slight noise of a creaking branch as Kai wrapped himself in the fur lining of his hammock. All was finally quiet. Ren peered through the branches to start looking for constellations to try and get a better guess on how much longer until winter arrived so she could plan on where to ride out the season. Probably Suna, but it was too dry and too hot for her or Kai to be comfortable. Juro had always wanted to head out to the open ocean on a ship but Ren was not a very good swimmer and she doubted Kai could swim either. Maybe just head to a beach?

 “Ren?”

 “What is it?”

 “Do you think we’re alone in the universe?”

 There was a moment of existential silence while Ren’s mind swam in possibility of creepy people living on the moon. She looked at the crescent moon tentatively through the branches before pulling her blanket over her head to try and stop thinking about it.

 “Go to sleep, Kai.”

 After all, there was no such thing as moon people.

 Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a different project for me. I really just wanted an excuse to do a series of action scenes, take a break from a larger project and explore the idea of how doing good can still have consequences. I like to write stories where it feels like you just dropped in to watch a chapter of a person’s life. Everyone has a history and is the hero of their own story and the villain of another. This should only be about 5 chapters.
> 
> I wandered into a pit of ancient feudal era weaponry for this, fascinating stuff. Ren’s primarily a spear fighter, liking the reach and multiple uses of the weapon. The short sword (kodachi, 60 cm or less) is mostly used in tight places, like inside a building where it’s harder to swing and block with a larger weapon. It was historically used by caravan guards to fight bandits and was just small enough to not be breaking the laws about non-samurai carrying weapons, making it available for citizens to carry during the Edo period.


	2. The Festival

It was a crisp, cool morning that greeted Ren as she finished her instant ramen before checking the small kettle of water perched over the coals of the small fire. Kai had already finished his breakfast and was trying to work through some fancy swings and thrusts he had seen Ren while protecting the her client’s cart on the road before trying to double step back and falling over onto his backside.

“Maybe you should keep you’re feet on the ground.”

“Nope! I want to be as good as you so I can earn my keep!” The small boy jumped back up to his feet to try again. “The faster I get better, the faster I can really help out!”

Ren laughed, “Kai, it took me seven years to get this good and I’m nowhere near mastery.”

Kai paused mid-swing, Ren laughed harder as his face settled into looking like he had been hit by a cart.

“Nice of you to think I’m amazing though.”

“I never said amazing!” Kai sputtered as he brought his staff into the ready position. “I just said good.”

“Same difference on bandit ridden roads,” Ren wiped her eyes and drank down the warm broth from her ramen before picking up her spear and rising to her feet to stretch. “Good or amazing you can get knifed the same way.”

“What do you mean?”

Ren continued stretching, lifting her arms over her head before twisting her torso, wincing as she heard her back crack loudly. “Lesson one: Assume there is someone who’s better then you and prepare for the day you meet them in battle.” She twirled her weapon slowly, checking the balance with the lacquered wooden sheath. While Kai was a beginner just learning forms, Ren did not need to accidentally cut him. She stopped spinning her weapon and pulled the canvas protector over the sheath before tightening up the bottom of the cover cloth and tying it tightly before speaking again. “Any idiot can swing a weapon around, but they usually die quickly. The people who are really skilled, learn how to think, you have no choice but to become so skilled because you’re to small to be stupid.”

Birds chirped loudly in the trees, it was still to early for any sane, sensible person to be out of bed. The sunlight was just beginning to filter through the trees reflected of the early morning dew. As long as they could hear the birds, Ren figured everyone else was still in bed. The caravan Ren had escorted in yesterday had asked her and Kai to come help them set up their stands this morning, if they could come by the family said they would be happy to pay and give them a bit extra for lunch. It was still to early to leave.

“Anyway, if you want to learn how to use that weapon then I need to make sure you don’t actually kill yourself in the process. I know it’s a bit heavy, but it’s good for you.”

Kai examined the staff reverently like he had many times since she gave it to him. It was carefully sanded, so smooth it was like handling glass when it was made of wood. Carefully weighted at the ends to simulate a blade weight to easier simulate Ren’s fighting style of graceful stabs and heavy bone shattering hits with the heavy iron at the base of her spear. The weight at the bottom seemed to be a unique addition to Ren’s own spear to help balance the weight from the spearhead. “I still think it’s beautiful. Thank you so much.”

“Glad you like it, now let’s get started.”

Ren eased into a ready stance, her feet apart and her spear in both hands, one at the base with her remaining hand at the center. Kai was quick to copy her, Ren loosed her grip to nudge his feet apart with the base of her weapon until she was satisfied and resumed her own position. She swung upwards, Kai followed. Downwards, Kai was paying close attention. Repeat.

Up and down, followed by a midlevel thrust. This would work better with a training dummy but it would be very noisy for such an early hour. She tapped Kai gently at the back of his knees to remind him to keep them bent before she led him into a guard position with a quick rotation to a high thrust to an invisible opponents neck.

Ren had not felt this good in a long time. Kai was an eager, attentive student fixing the mistakes Ren pointed out in his stance and grip quickly and efficiently. Keep your grip firm, but flexible so some swordsman doesn’t cut off your fingers. Hit the vital points and back off for another assault, the spear is not for the those with excruciating blood lust.

He was quick to learn how to block incoming strikes, and immediately flow back into his ready position.

Teacher and student repeated each step slowly and carefully, Kai was soon becoming more comfortable with the staff as they practiced and moving faster as he memorized the steps. The spear was on the surface a simple weapon, stick your enemy with the pointy end. The casual users of this ancient weapon said their were three basic core steps to mastery.

Ren saw five basics and numerous combinations, but nobody listened to her about that, they would just claim basic spear work was different from the chakra flow techniques she liked to use with her weapon. Those who claimed three steps were only seeing the three primary stabs with the blade, not the slashing or bone breaking attacks with the other end.  
  
They continued for an hour before Ren turned to face Kai and told him to get ready to spar.  
  
The pair crossed weapons, tapping them together to test each others grip before stepping back into their stances with their weapons raised. Kai’s face was set and determined while Ren just smiled serenely.

“You first,” Ren adjusted her grip.

Kai lunged forward with a squeaky battlecry, moving his staff up to Ren’s chest as he ran forward. Ren stepped aside, his staff moving past her as she did so. Kai rotated the staff and took a broad swing towards Ren’s head, the girl leaned back, causing the swinging staff to barely miss her nose. Ren moved back up and swung the sheathed blade of her spear at Kai’s midsection. The boy moved his staff into the guard position to block the incoming strike, wincing at the loud clashing noise as the weapons banged together.

Ren stepped back to give her student a chance to recover as she noted the tremble in his shoulders that moved down his arms. Kai gave a wordless shout as he leapt forward, Ren blocked his staff with a quick swipe of her spear before dropping to one knee and knocking Kai’s feet out from under him.

The boy dropped into the damp grass, his staff landing in the grass next to him. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he caught his breath.

Ren twirled her spear before pressing it into the dirt with a stern expression.

“Every hurt is a lesson. You need to work on your stances and how to dodge attacks before I can put a real spear in your hands. Without form or basics a weapon will not help you survive a battle.”

“I may have noticed.”

“I was hoping you would, easier for you to feel it then have me tell you upfront,” Ren chuckled, “but keep that staff with you. I want you be comfortable with the weight.”

Kai nodded as he sat up, wincing as he bent his knees.

Ren was sure she did not hit him harder then intended, but sometimes it was hard to be sure. Though, if his legs were still attached, she was sure he was fine. Ren was a honorable fighter with a liking for dirty tactics as she was in the habit of fighting more then one person at a time, something one got used to if they traveled alone.

“So, how do they perform jutsu?”

Ren laid down in the grass,“Chakra. The way it was explained to me by my teacher is that they manipulate the life-force inside them to perform powerful feats, like manipulating the earth, starting fires or creating windstorms. Everyone has it, we’re just from a culture that uses it differently then the five elemental nations, it connects everyone across the borders of nation and bloodlines.”

Kai nodded, “Samurai use it to extend the reach of their swords and make them sharper, right.”

“Exactly! I borrowed that idea for my own jutsu.” Ren puffed up at the admission, “No hand signs required.”

“Hand signs?”

“It helps focus chakra is the short version. I do it one handed, most people use two because it’s easier.”

Kai’s mouth fell open. “What?”

Ren shrugged, “That’s the only way I learned out to do it. As a spear fighter, I’ve usually got one hand tied up, it makes my life a bit harder, but people underestimate you for carrying what they see as an impractical weapon.” Ren scoffed, “They just can’t see the spear is the root of modern weaponry, I’ll teach you if you’re committed to using a weapon, it’s not as hard as it looks. I rely on my chakra natures and the ability to send the chakra flow through my spear change the field of battle.”

“Natures?”

“Earth and a bit of lightning. I can alter terrain and use lightening to sharpen my spear in battle. Not showy, but useful. Earth is easier, because it’s everywhere so I don’t have to waste my own chakra to make it.”

Kai looked starry-eyed in a way that made Ren laugh.

“You change the field to suit your needs, disorient your opponent and then cut them down! Can you show me?”

Ren smiled and twirled her spear a couple of times to make Kai sweat a little. In the week she had known this kid, she had realized he was quite fun to pick on. Ren stuck her spear into the dirt and brought up her fists as she stepped into a fighting stance before slamming her fist into the dirt. The ground beneath them shook and Kai was lifted into the air on top of a small two foot earth wall.

“I can make it bigger.”

“This is fine!” Kai squeaked as he gripped the edge of the wall of rock and dirt.

“You okay?”

“This is just very different from the Land of Iron.”

Oh. “Yeah, yeah it is.” Ren stepped back gracefully and the wall beneath Kai sunk back into the earth. The boy breathed an audible sigh of relief that made Ren feel a bit guilty. The silence between them seemed to echo in the still morning air. “If you want to go back home-”

Kai shook his head. “No. Never. I don’t have a future there.”

No, he really didn’t. Ren could not think of anyone who could have a future in their village at this time.

There was a sudden crashing noise from the woods around their camp. Ren weaved a sign before punching the dirt to throw mud over the embers, hurling her kettle into the trees in the process. She scrambled over to Kai to tuck him under her arm and run up the tree where they had set up camp to wait quietly. There was the snapping of twigs and the increasingly loud birdsong of the local wildlife. Ren watched a couple of squirrels fight over a nut before they scampered further up the tree trunk before turning her attention to where she believed the source of the noise was coming from.

Kai’s voice was a very soft whisper, “Why are we up here?”

“I’m not spending the day in jail,” Ren whispered, “Cuts into my profits.”

“What guard would be out at six in the morning?”

“A crazy one,” Ren peered through the branches suspiciously as the noise grew louder. It definitely sounded like two people, probably heading to another part of the training grounds. Ren had grabbed the one the furthest back by the village wall, she thought the other two were too close together.

There was more excited yelling that Ren was not sure she was hearing correctly. Something about… Youth?

Ren and Kai exchanged looks of equal confusion.

“You think someone’s being kidnapped?” Kai muttered, his grip on the tree branch tightening as the voices grew closer. “Should we help them?”

“Nobody gets kidnapped at six in the morning. Besides, I don’t do rescues until eight.”

Kai gave her a look so disapprovingly grown up it made Ren feel something almost like shame.

“You’re such an old man.”

The shouting enthused shouting grew louder and closer before seeming to change directions away from their grove of trees on the training ground as suddenly as they passed through the training grove. The two of them stayed in the tree a while longer until the shouting faded away before coming back down to the grass below.

“What is up with this village?”

* * *

 

It was noon before Ren and Kai were able to head into the festival. The elderly matriarch of that caravan had taken a liking to the pair of orphans and kept them to talk and exchange news. Most villages were still in recovery after heavy casualties during the war, mercenary groups were on the rise to hassle and terrorize travelers who were looking for places to settle. The matriarch thanked Ren again for defending their livelihood from that little group of mercenaries.

Though, Ren never told her those people were not after the wares.

Those three men were after Ren.

It would have been an awkward talk, Ren had made a few enemies over the years, most of them within the months before the war began as she took up defending villages from those who sought to take advantage of the distraction of the ninja villages. Gangsters never liked getting thwarted by a girl with a smart mouth and a spear.

Especially if they were beginning a market in trading children with bloodline abilities out of port towns.

Ren liked three things in general, the first being fighting, the second was food and the last thing was setting boats on fire.

Flaming boats where just so pretty in the night, especially if they belonged to gangsters who liked to kidnap children.

The teacher focused on Kai's russet hair. The boy would never be truly safe in her company, but he would have as safe a life as she could provide. If he decided the path of the fighter was not for him, she would find him a safe place to live out his days. This village appeared promising, it was big enough for opportunity and safer to live amongst soldiers then in a little rustic hamlet with no protection at all.

Shoulders crashed together, Ren whispered a quick apology at the passerby's yelp of pain as she reached out to grab the back of Kai's shirt so she would not lose him in the crowd as a dull panic came over her. Her breathing grew shallow before she turned her focus away from the crowd and the sea of eyes in unfamiliar faces. It's just people, always people, traveling together in packs like wolves.

Ren was beginning to regret being talked into this, but doing weird stuff for money was kind of her job.

She did not like overcrowded villages or crowds and the two seemed to go together.

The women wore beautiful clothes that made Ren feel uncharacteristically self conscious about her haggard, vagrant appearance and crooked haircut. She could feel some of the suspicious looks from passersby drill into her back. Travelers anywhere in the world were regarded with suspicion. She released her hold on Kai's shirt and hunched over, stuffing her hands in her coat pockets as she matched the boy step for step, as he moved through the crowds with a look of awe as he stared at the booths, food and people around him.

Their home village was no where near this size, perhaps only half and most lived on ancestral lands outside of the town proper. It was always to to cold to have outdoor festival celebrations like this and the travelers never came over the mountains where their village was, to far away from proper towns and cities if they could even find it to begin with. Lantern lights would not keep people warm. Ren adjusted the hood of her coat and kept her eyes on Kai’s messy russet hair.

Ren whispered more apologies as she accidentally bumped into someone or was collided with, she did not feel anything when they did, only hearing the pain filled cursing from the whirls of color around her under a cool cloudy sky. The smell of food filled Ren’s nose with spices and warm thoughts.

Bread! Fancy bread! Ren felt herself instinctively drifting towards a stall before Kai grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the arena that peeked over the tops of the buildings.

“Kid, we have plenty of time and I need a bite to eat.”

“You sure?”

“We have an hour,” Ren shrugged and walked over to stand in line, “and I can’t win on an empty stomach.”

“Okay,” Kai grumbled, “but make it quick, you’ve got people to beat!”

Ren snorted, “If I’m not worried, you shouldn’t be.”

Ren watched the crowds as the line moved forward, she noticed how peaceful this village was. The people clearly felt safe and protected from the darker heart of the world beyond the walls and were welcoming visitors with open arms. Stalls with wares from across the elemental nations lined the streets, carrying fine fabrics, trinkets and books that would catch eyes and start discussions for price. Ren’s fingers itched to caress the pages of a leather-bound tome, but they were to heavy to carry on the road. Another stall was selling jewelry made of beautiful stones to match the silks in the next stall. Ren had no need for jewelry, it was a silly thing that could quickly become a hindrance in combat, but still…

Maybe it was time to settle down somewhere and live like a person and not a vagabond?

How would she make a living though? The only thing she knew how to do was fight and she was a bit old for an apprenticeship. Her knowledge was that of a traveler, not a settler. Ren took another few steps forward and rested her arm on the top of Kai’s head thoughtfully as she reflected further back on her experiences she could turn into an actual job.

“Ren? Why are you using my head like a table?”

“I’m thinking.”

Making clothes? Out of the question, Ren treated her sewing needles like tiny swords so her work was… disastrous and sloppy.

Owning a business was an intriguing prospect, but she needed money and paperwork and she was short on the former.

Ren had some knowledge of blacksmithing from her father and small weapons repairs over the years. That idea seemed to have some weight to it.

Kai was paying for a small special plate and leading her towards a long table where they took a couple of seats at the far end and sat down quietly.

Ren quickly popped a piece of fancy bread in her mouth, sagging at the warmth and spice flavors that filled her mouth. Kai was working on some soba noodles and sharing Ren’s red beans while they both looked at the crowds of people. Ren was placing their country of origin by some of the clothes they were wearing and the wears being hawked from the booths for her and Kai’s amusement.

“Suna’s the only place with those kind of exotic spices,” she pointed at a booth with her chopsticks. “Kiri’s got an amazing fish market but it’s not worth going to far in there because of their volatile stance on blood lust and the soju is made here locally.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s on the back of the bottle.”

“No, the blood lust thing.”

Ren stopped halfway across the table, her chopsticks in Kai’s soba noodles. She bit her bottom lip nervously before relaxing into an awkward smile.

“Have you ever heard of a kekkei genkai? I know they’re much rarer where we’re from, but down here, they’re a bit more common. These people with those special abilities are used as tools of war, and in places like the Land of Mists, blamed for the conflicts.” Ren paused, glancing around before lowering her voice. “They did nothing but exist, it’s sometimes just easier to blame people who are different.”

“Do you have a kekkei genkai?”

Ren froze, her face unmoving and her eyes widening for a brief moment before everything relaxed into her typical grinning expression. “That would make my life a bit complicated, wouldn’t it?”

The boy fidgeted as Ren spun a few soba noodles around her chopsticks before lifting them into her mouth.

The server came by with a bottle of soju and a few small glasses on a tray, Ren made eye contact and batted her eyes sweetly with a playful smile.

“Any chance I could get a shot of that?”

The server smiled, “Do you have your identification papers?”

Ren’s smile widened as she ran her fingers through her boyish, crooked hair in a way she hoped was passably flirtatious, “What if I left them at home?”

There was a guff of laughter from the server, “You’re not that cute sweetheart.”

Ren’s jaw dropped as he gave her a wink and carried the tray over to the packed table behind a disapproving Kai where there was a small group of older people, possibly late twenties to mid thirties gathering. One woman with short black hair was holding a pig, a woman with long blonde hair sat next to her while a man with silver hair and a mask sat across from them while reading a… porn novel. In public.

This weird village kept getting weirder.

The server came back a few moments later as Kai told Ren she was a hypocrite. 

“Hey, you didn’t ask for their papers.”

“That’s the Hokage!” The server hissed, “Her staff and the man who’s going to be the sixth Hokage!”

“Tsunade? The sannin? The legendary sucker?” Ren tilted sideways to peer around Kai’s rather large head. She knew from descriptions that Tsunade was the young looking blonde woman. “I thought she was supposed to be a super old woman?”

“We don’t talk about that,” The server whispered as he eyed the table nervously.

There was a rather interesting aura coming from the hokage’s table. The Hokage specifically. Ren elected to ignore it.

"You are aware your supposed sixth Hokage is reading a porn novel in public right?"

The server just sighed heavily.

“So, is there anything else going on in town for the weary traveler set?”

Ren and the server talked for a few more minutes about the rebuilding of Konoha over the winter months, how it was rumored that some of these travelers would be willing to move here for good if there was enough interest in their wares over the course of the festival. The Hokage seemed to be hoping that this would be an economic boost for her village.

As they spoke, Ren noticed a man in a black cloak watching peering out from between a couple of local shops. They made eye contact. Ren turned away as if she had seen nothing, turning her attention back to Kai and the server.

The server quickly said goodbye as he was called away to another table.

Ren looked back towards where she had seen the cloaked man, finding only empty space. Her guts turned and twisted as she told Kai to finish quickly so she could go sign in at the arena.

* * *

 

The two travelers walked steadily through the crowded streets towards the arena, weaving through the crowds passing by hawkers and pretty girls handing out free samples. Ren did not spare a passing glance to admire their clothes the way she usually would, she was turning to look behind her periodically to check for the cloaked man. She doubted it was same same man from the road, but one could not be to careful these days.

Kai pulled her wrist through the thicket throng of people and towards a banner that claimed to be the way to the registration center inside the side entrance to the arena. Kai pulled Ren into a short but fast moving line where she continued to look around as she fiddled with the hood of her coat before checking for the mask in her inner coat pocket, the kodachi at her hip and the shaft of her spear.

“Ren, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t like crowds is all,” Ren clenched and unclenched at her sword hilt under her coat. “Bit scared of them actually, all those eyes.”

“Yeah, our village would never be this big.”

No, in the old days, the elders would never allow it. All of their holidays revolved around the mountain and tales of the old god at the peak. A hard, complex tradition to explain to an outsider. Ren’s father had been welcomed in by his exceptional blacksmithing ability, he had a near instinctive understanding of weapons craft that had paved the way for him into this reclusive community.

He had gotten killed for it.

The line moved forward, Ren could see the sign in table with a rather tired looking ninja running the process and heaved a sigh. Waiting around was boring.

A few minutes later they arrived at the little table where Ren quickly wrote her name down, her handwriting was regarded widely as a notch above chicken scratch causing her to rewrite it at the ninja’s request before he gave up and wrote it down for her so it could actually be read by the announcers. He gave her the key to a locker where she could put her personal belongings and her weapons. Teacher and student stepped through the door and looked at the competition.

Kai spoke first, “It’s a bunch of old men.”

Ren sighed, “Wait, I think that one’s about forty.”

Kai snickered, “Easy win then?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

The competitors were mostly older men from roughly their forties to early sixties, only two others appeared couple years older then Ren. There was also one very old woman who seemed surprisingly muscular for her age. Ren noted to watch out for her and the older man waving a champions belt from a previous contest around. Those two were the most dangerous people in the ring until proven otherwise. Thankfully, this was a strictly civilian contest, so no ninja which suited Ren just fine. She would rather not have to pull out every trick she had.

Ren found her locker and began to put her things inside. Her spear went first, followed by her kodachi and her belt, she did not want to give an opponent anything extra to grab. Ren’s hair was too boyishly short to fuss about and too crooked to do anything with for the time being. Ren closed the locker door and spun the dial a couple of times before giving the combination paper to Kai.  
  
“Hold on to this for me?”

Kai nodded and put it in his money pouch.

“Oh, there’s one more thing I need from you…” She reached deep down into her coat pockets again, her hands moving about in what Kai believed to be the world’s deepest coat pockets.

“What is it?”

“Got it! Here you go,” Ren gave Kai a small bundle of what appeared to be business cards that she had pulled out of the very bottom of her coat pocket. “If you want to casually drop some of these in front of weary travelers-“ She winked and smiled covertly- “Travelers love _ramen_. Especially a family discount.” She put a hand on his shoulder and led him away from the rest of the people in the waiting area, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Do not give these to those people in headbands.”

Kai tilted his head like a confused puppy. “Headbands? I don’t know what that word means.”

Ren slipped her arm over his shoulders and pointed to the man running the signup for the contest. “See that shiny thing on his head? That’s the village symbol, he’s a ninja. They don’t need to know I’m trying to drum up business on a lower cost in their own village. They don’t like that. So, don’t get caught.”

“If I do get caught?”

Ren smiled, “Just tell them some strange man outside the entryway gave you forty ryo to do that for him or something.” Ren gave Kai a friendly shake by the shoulders before passing him a second packet of business cards.

“Have fun! Meet me by the front gate after I win.”

Ren took off to see the bracket with the other combatants, giving Kai a chance to read the business cards.

**_ ‘First come first serve for the services of the best caravan guard in the business! Red Ribbon Protection Services! Look for the spear at the city gate. Cheaper then your local hidden village! Ask about our family discounts!’ _ **

Ah, if one of those headband people got their hands on this, Ren would definitely have more problems then she could handle.

Kai said a quick prayer to the mountain god back in his village for good luck as he went out the side door and into the crowded arena.

He hoped the mountain could still hear him with how far Kai had wandered in recent weeks.

* * *

 

There was a roar from the crowd as Ren flipped her first opponent out of the ring. Kai took the opportunity to scatter some of the cards over the balcony to the cheap seats below as he walked by the railing. Watching Ren fight left Kai with feelings of awe. She was graceful, fluid and it felt more like a dance then real combat, though this was hand to hand, and Ren’s movements with her spear were more brutal.

It was odd to watch her fight barehanded, she was in constant motion, but never threw a punch and rarely raised an arm to block. She just kept stepping backwards and weaving away until she put them in a throwing position. It was quite strange to compare her to the other combatants, Ren’s style was soft and avoidant in a way he had a hard time affiliating with his hard, steady teacher.

Actually, she had done a similar thing during their sparring session that morning.

Kai was beginning to think that there were some things about his sensei that did not add up with what he already knew about her. He did not think she was a liar, but there were some things she was definitely not telling him.

He fidgeted, moving his hands in and out of his pockets. This was much different then picking pockets for Masaru, he could see flurries of emotion in Ren’s eyes while Masaru was too cold and above it all to let something become noticeable to the other members of the resistance. It was what made them such a good team, the warrior and the leader. Kai was proud to serve his village under Masaru’s orders, Kai and the other children would run messages around the village and into the countryside, it was easier to hid in rocky outcroppings if one was already small or undersized.

He wished for a few places to hide right now, Kai had never seen so many people before in his life. His village was walls of ice and stone with the number of people dwindling within its walls every year. The cold of winter came for its elderly children, calling them back to warmth in a world of summer according to the last remaining elder. Even with multiple clans at the mountain’s base, numbers continued to shrink, their traditions were now just stories around the hearth if they were remembered at all.

As he was jostled by the crowds, Kai thought it was almost a relief to leave his home village. The rest of the world, judging by what he had seen of it, was a much livelier place.

Kai closed his eyes and leaned agains the railing. If he focused on the noise and the crowd he could feel the bright lights of the crowds energy tingle along his skin until the each person was illuminated by a white energy. That must be chakra, Ren said it was inside of everybody but they all felt so different. He focused on the door Ren was walking through to go back and wait for her next match.

Ren’s energy was hot like the inside of a smith’s forge, it seemed to sing with each pound of the hammer on the anvil, the sparks flying in all directions. It made Kai feel safe, like even her own soul was crafting weapons and plans for survival.

The lights disappeared and Kai felt his shoulders sag as a kind of spiritual exhaustion overcame him to match his newly forming headache. Having no idea what he had just done or how he did it, Kai rolled his shoulders and walked on down the stands, his hand trailing along the railing as he did so.

His eyes trailed over the crowd and stopped suddenly at a familiar shade of green and bowl cut. It was the martial artist from the teahouse! With someone who appeared to be his… father? Was dressing like one’s parent a thing in this country? Kai looked down at his clothes for a moment, wondering if he could pull off Ren’s practical vagabond attire and terrible hack job of a haircut. He shook his head to come back to reality as the two men continued to talk and gesture loudly about stuff that was being drowned out by the roars of the crowd watching the match.

Kai backed away slowly, hoping he would not be noticed.

He should tell Ren!

The boy turned on his heel away from the two green men and adjusted his shirt collar, trying to look inconspicuous as he moved into the crowd, his head down to look at his feet and hide his face as he did so. Kai walked towards the staircase at the other end of that section of the arena. His focus being on the stairs and escape, he did not see the woman until they collided. Popcorn, business cards and snacks flew in all directions as he tumbled to the ground, his staff making a loud, echoing noise as he did so.

“I-I am so sorry!” Kai sputtered as he leapt to his feet at the woman’s startled gasp, giving a deep bow to the trim woman as he righted himself. “Let me help you!”

Kai looked up slowly, from her sandal clad feet, pink pants and unusual shirt to the two tightly wrapped hair buns on her head, Kai felt more dread bubbling in his guts as he met her eyes.

Ren was not going to be happy.

The woman picked up one of Ren’s business cards.

It was only a couple seconds but it felt like an eternity of Kai thinking he was going to be sick as she turned it the card over in her hands as recognition filled her eyes.

“Wait, you’re that boy who was with the spear woman at that teahouse.”

“What’s a spear?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed as she leaned closer to Kai to look directly into his eyes. Kai tried to look as disarmingly sweet, but dumb as he could manage.

“Okay wise guy,” She held out the card she picked up that had Ren’s information on it. “What’s this?

“A business card?”

“What does it say?”

Kai shrugged, “Dunno, I can’t read.”

The woman seemed to snarl. Kai continued to smile sweetly, hoping it would be enough to not get him thrown into the ring.

“Are you aware it’s illegal to advertise third party protection services within our village?”

Kai shrugged, sweat was starting to form on his back.

The woman’s hand flew up to cover her face in exasperation with a matching sigh. She pulled herself back together for a final question. “Fine, then answer this for me,” she turned the business card around to show Kai the back which had a picture of a spear that looked just like Ren’s. Kai felt his stomach drop, but maintained his innocent smile with effort. “You claim you don’t know the woman I saw you with, then how did you get her business cards?”

“She dropped them at the teahouse after she got sent through the wall,” Kai’s sweet smile faltered into a crooked smirk as he felt himself give up on this runaround of questioning. “I’m just trying to do a good deed. Why are you so interested anyway?”

“She tried to break my friend’s ribs with the most beautiful spear I’ve ever seen!”

Kai’s mind went completely blank.

This bun-headed woman sounded like she would love to take a swing at his teacher, but spoke of his teacher’s weapon like it had defended the heavens. Her eyes seemed to glow and sparkle with the thought of the weapon.

“Yeah, your friend has a drinking problem and ruined her dinner first!” Kai took a couple of steps back while peering about for a way out of this.

“That was the waitress’s fault!” The woman’s face was blistering red at the recollection. “She brought us soju instead of water! Lee’s got no alcohol tolerance!”

“He still knocked her through the wall with a table!” Kai puffed his scrawny, undersized body up as much as he was able, swelling like a frog to try and make himself a bit scarier as his temper rose. “Ren was right to try and crack his head open!”

“So that’s her name,” the woman smiled.

Kai’s hands flew up to cover his mouth.

The staircase was right behind her.

He inhaled deeply through his nose.

“STRANGER DANGER! _HELP!”_

The crowd around them stared at the commotion, they began to whisper and point at the bun headed woman as Kai took the opportunity to slip into the crowd, dodging the grasps of the concerned people as he slipped under seats, behind a group of old women who seemed to move in front of him like a protective wall to shield him from the view of the crowd.

As he fled down a nearby staircase he flung the rest of the business cards into the air as he leapt over the stair railing and into the crowd below, the cards fell around him like cherry blossom petal before being blown into the upper reaches of the stands or down into the cheap seats below.

**END CHAPTER 2**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also like to write about the effects of modernization on more secluded cultures like the mountain village Ren and Kai are from. They’re beginning to lose grasp on their traditions and their understanding of the world, partially through trauma, culture killing through death of elders and seclusion. That’s what happens when you study globalization.


	3. Teacher and Student

These people were clearly accomplished at the soft martial arts applied in this kinds of competitions. Ren had gotten a lucky flip out in her first match. She just picked up the old man from the second match by the back of his shirt and carried him out of the ring, while he tried to ask her to dinner.

Her final opponent of the semi-finals was making her _work._

Ren sidestepped his lunges with elegant turns and spins out of his reach as she worked her way behind him in a continuous circular rotation. Steady movements. Firm steps. Focus on breathing and leading him closer to the edge of the ring.

With a quick rotation, Ren seized an opportunity to knock her opponent’s feet out from under him, and lock his arm for the throw. He struggled, knocking Ren’s white tiger mask off and to the center of the ring. Ren felt her stomach drop to her feet as the crowd became the only thing she could focus on. No! She had to focus. With a shout Ren exerted the last bit of force needed to flip him out of the ring with such speed and force he tumbled through the air, continuing to summersault through the dirt around the edge of the ring.

The referee took Ren’s hand and raised it over her head as the crowd roared and she tried not to puke at the thought of those eyes upon her.

She picked up her mask, putting it back in her coat pocket and walked back to the locker room only to find someone already there waiting for her. It was the old woman. Her last opponent for the grand prize.

“You look nervous.” She was small and white headed with large almost bulbous eyes that seemed to peer through Ren’s soul. She smiled politely and took a sip from the flask at her hip.

“You seem calm.”

The old woman chuckled, “My little friend here,” she held up her flask, “is very helpful in that regard.” She put the top back on and put her flask back in her pocket. “My name is Shinju, and you are?”

“Oh, my name is Ren. You are very skilled to have made it to the finals.”

Shinju smiled, “So are you. The way you flipped your last opponent out of the ring was marvelous. Your teacher must be so proud.”

Ren smiled awkwardly to the point her cheeks resembled a chipmunks. “What brings you to Konoha?”

“I’m looking for someone, this seemed a good place to start.”

Ren felt an eyebrow rise, “Who are you looking for?”

“My people need a fighter, but we cannot afford a shinobi. So I’ve volunteered to find some brave soul to help us.” Shinju looked Ren over, giving the girl the idea the old woman could peer into her soul. “I’d do it myself, but I’m not qualified to fight actual shinobi. A burden of old age, really.”

“They say age comes with wisdom.”

“You would be right, I’ve heard things over the last several months, rivers whisper secrets to those trained to listen.” She gave Ren a knowing smile, “That spear you brought in is truly a work of art, it’s the kind of craftsmanship that gets one unwanted attention. In fact, there are whispers of dangerous people looking for a young spear master about your age.”

“Spear master? Me?” Ren waved her hand dismissively, “I’m just an amateur. Easier to threaten highwaymen with a weapon they can see.”

Shinju looked Ren up and down slowly, like she was assessing her combat skills. Ren hunched over slightly and shifted to a slightly pigeon-toed stance with her knees bent slightly. There was something in the old woman’s eyes that told Ren she was not fooled in the least. Right, she had just seen her last fight. _Dammit._

“I see. If that is truly the case, then be careful, because these people do not care so long as they accomplish their mission to kill the spear master. They are professional hunters and don’t know how to ask questions or when to give up the hunt.”

“Are those the people you need handled?”

“No, but they are a symptom of a much larger problem.”

_It may not be safe to stay here..._

“I see…”

Ren glanced at the competition and winced, a win would be easy here, but it would make her visible to her pursuers if she was not already. Too visible to ignore. Plus, it was getting harder to manage her bloodline ability the more anxious she got about the noise and the crowds. Juro always said she was reckless and impulsive.

Thoughts of her teacher made Ren’s eyes dampen as she turned away from the old woman and went to the desk to resign. She would wait for Kai to come back and they would go ahead and leave tonight. The boy would not like that.

She decided to fake a muscle strain, take second place and leave quickly.

It was much easier then she thought to limp over to the sign in shinobi and tell him about a pulled muscle and explain that she could not stay for the final bout as she had to walk out to her home village in the morning. He was very understanding and Ren felt bad about lying to him as she faux limped over to her locker to retrieve her weapons and then out the door of the stadium to look for Kai as the winner was being announced as Hisakawa Shinju.

Kai appeared quickly as if he had been waiting for her for some time. “Ren! I got recognized!”

“What?”

“Dango hair girl from the teashop!”

“Seriously?” Her hand flew into her face. “We don’t have time to deal with that right now, lets get moving!”

Kai tilted his head like a puppy as the crowd roared as the little old woman received a medal for public display, the prize money was more of a private acceptance. Ren was quick to point towards the door to the street and jog towards it with Kai on her heels.

Ren turned to do a quick survey of the area outside the arena to find the cloaked man slipping into the shadows. Her heart leapt into her throat so quickly she almost choked on it. Stay calm. She had to stay calm. If she freaked out, then Kai’s chances of survival lessoned as he fed off her panic.

Her eyes moved around the crowd to try and find the others. No sign of them. _Yet._

Ren took Kai be the shoulders and leaned over him slightly. “We’re being followed. Do as I say.”

Kai nodded slightly as Ren began to walk faster, turning down streets and thin dark alleys. She kept a comforting and protective arm over his shoulders as she lead him down unfamiliar paths. Occasionally backtracking back up to the main road to merge with a crowd of villagers for few minutes before turning down more alleyways. They took so many turns that Ren had lost track of where exactly they were, but they had to keep moving. She knew the general direction of their camp, they would weave their way to the wall and then follow it down to the training grounds.

“Ren!” Kai hissed, “Your spear!”

Shit! She forgot she was even carrying it. “Kai, I need a blanket or something to make a cloak out of!”

“Can’t you just change your appearance?”

“This is easier, trust me.” Ren saw a clothesline hanging across the alley above her head, she pulled off her spear to knock down a couple of purple sheets that were strung across the line. She caught one and threw it over her head, measuring quickly before pulling out a senbon and using it as a pin to keep her crummy disguise in place as she hunched over like an old woman and wrapped the second sheet around her spear as she focused her chakra to give herself the appearance of a very old woman, her spear now a rather large walking stick.

Ren then turned to Kai and placed two withered fingers in the center of his forehead, her other hand weaving signs. Ren concentrated on the image forming behind her eyes. The image of a young girl with ink black hair and dark eyes, the image flowed down Ren’s fingertips and fell over Kai like water. Ren’s head felt like it was being split like an axe as her focus turned to keeping the image over her student.

“There. I’ve put a genjutsu on you to hide your appearance, as long as you stay close to me, I’ll be able to hold it. Anyone who looks at you will just see a little girl. Might be enough to throw them off the trail until we can leave town.”

“Leave town?”

Ren threw her arm over his shoulders again before he could say anything else and pulled him back to the main road, past beautiful carts and stalls of food and exotic wears. The makeshift cloak hid Ren’s flickering transformation back into her normal form.

“Ren, your nose…”

Ren wiped her nose on the back of her jacket, the splash of crimson blood turned Ren’s stomach. Some passersby were noting the bleeding old woman with concern, Ren dropped her head down further as she tightened her grip on her walking stick. They would have to hurry.

“It’s fine, just a bit longer…”

There was a metallic taste on her lips.

They moved slowly through the streets, Ren peering up at the rooftops and the crowds around them. Hiding her face from the ninjas patrolling in particular before creeping down another side street and turning down another alleyway to reach the wall of the village. This street was empty. Ren left her arm over Kai’s shoulders to keep her illusion active and pulled him towards the grove of trees where they had made their camp.

She dared not let her student go until they reached the safety of the trees.

Ren felt the illusion drop off of Kai, returning his appearance to the that of a young boy as she released him and fell to her knees, her spear falling into the grass, her breath growing rushed and shallow from the strain of holding the genjutsu over Kai. She pulled some sealing paper from the inside pocket of her coat, wiped some of her nose blood on the papers before flinging them at nearby trees and weaved another hand sign quickly.

_“Sealing Art: Distortion!”_

The area around their campsite grew fuzzy for a moment before returning to normal as the sealing papers activated. Ren groaned, her headache had progressed to feeling like it was being set on fire as blood trickled from her nose. The illusion had worked, but the added pressure of activating sealing jutsu papers over even a small area like this was draining, especially with her rather shallow chakra pool.

Ren placed her head on the cold grass for a moment. “Kai, start packing!”

_“Wha-“_

“We can’t stay here! Our enemies are beating at our door.”

She could her the boy shuffling around their campsite, making sure nothing had fallen from the trees as Ren began to collect her thoughts. She glanced up as his footsteps stopped a few feet in front of her.

Kai had drawn his bo staff and was pointing it at her, the end a few inches from her face. “Then we should fight! You killed a warlord! Led us against our oppressors! This is _nothing!”_

Ren gripped her head that now felt like she had been hit with a rock as placed her forehead back in the grass. “I’m no hero, Kai.”

She shook her head as the pain finally receded, her chakra beginning to resume its normal flow through her body. Her stress, anxiety and adrenaline moving things along quicker then usual. Her headache was now a dull throbbing sensation leaving Ren feeling as if the rest of her body was covered in a protective layer. She stood up and ran up the tree and cut down the hammocks an threw down their backpacks to a waiting Kai. Ren could not even feel the breeze of a coming storm or the bark of the tree under her hands as she swung down to the ground to the small pile of items and a disapproving Kai.

“Give me a hand with these. We’ll go east, the Land of Rain is pretty decimated from so many wars, it’s a mess of foreigners and people who mind their own business. We can hide there and I can start training you properly.”

“I think you’re a hero,” Kai whispered, “and you’re running away.”

Ren was rolling the hammocks into her backpack and hiding the money in the center of her pack beneath the food. She threw the matches in the waterproof pouch near the top before closing it and double checking Kai’s own bag.

“That’s all you’ve done since you left the Land of Iron, you’re running from something you have no control over and I think you’re scared! No! I _know_ you’re scared!”

Ren’s mouth fell open.

“You realize what I did right?”

“Yeah, you killed a monster to protect us from starvation and whatever else he came up with to torture us!”

“Kai, he was _drunk_ and _naked_ when I found him! There is nothing heroic about killing defenseless tyrants!”

“You were the hero I had waited for to come and save our people.”

Ren picked her spear off the ground and rammed it into the dirt with a snarl. “Do you want to know what happened? Why these people are hunting me after I did something so _heroic?”_

Kai’s eyes were wide at her sudden outburst.

“I came home because I wanted to find out if things were better, because after Juro died I was tired of traveling and wanted to return home to my people, but that _monster_ was still alive and Masaru was leading that pitiful resistance. I wanted to help, if that monster was dead, I could live in peace.” She slung the backpack over her shoulder as the rain began to fall. Ren’s voice grew louder to make sure Kai could hear her over the rumbles of thunder that were coming closer to the village. “That’s not what happened. That tyrant had enough presence of mind to arm himself, so I slit him from navel to nose.” Ren mimed the action by moving her pointer finger straight up from her navel to the tip of her nose as she spoke. “It was inglorious and slow. I watched him bleed out, gargling and choking on his own blood. It did not make me feel any better.” Kai stepped back as Ren stepped forward, never breaking eye contact with the boy. “You want to be a warrior, Kai? That will be your life, killing people, living with it and waiting for the day it happens to you. I’m no hero, so get that idea out of your head.”

“Why did you run away?” Kai poked her in the chest with his staff, “You’re a part of our clan, what made you leave? What made them chase you away?”

Ren’s mouth opened and closed like a fish pulled from the river. “Masaru. There was talk about putting me in charge after everything and Masaru turned them against me. Then he and his allies tried to kill me…” Ren paused before deciding to finish. “The blades broke.”

Kai’s mouth fell open. “The blades _broke?”_

“That’s all you’re getting out of this story?”

_“How?"_

“I-It’s not important.”

Kai looked like he wanted to continue that avenue of discussion but was wise enough to drop it.

“I was so happy when you came and committed yourself to helping us, teaching us how to fight to push for one more day, to turn the people who worked inside the palace so we could break in and kill a man who would have killed us all if it had gone on any longer!”

The man had asked for women. None returned.

“Masaru never did any of that! That was _you_ , Ren!”

The man had asked for children and their corpses would be found in the river at dawn.

Ren knew exactly the kind of things Kai had seen, but she did not feel like the hero he desperately needed her to be for his own sanity.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?”

Ren shrugged, “What is there to say? You’ve got me all figured out. I’m a coward who got a lucky shot at a samurai warlord. Sorry to disappoint you.”

The silence between them in the moments that followed felt far longer then it was.

“I-If you won’t fight, then I will! Because you can’t live like this!” Kai readied his staff and stormed away through the distortion barrier without another word, leaving Ren in silence with her own thoughts and a sick feeling in her belly as thunder rumbled in the distance.

She had saved those people and they had turned on her once her use was done. Her home, her community leaders had decided it was easier to stab her in the back for being a… _freak_ or _monster_ as Masaru called her.

Her ability had kept her alive, Kai did not have her freaky ability. If he found them, he would die.

Ren would be alone again. Running from things she could not change.

She sighed as thunder rumbled in the distance before leaping to her feet, breaking the barrier for good and running out after her student. Ren stopped suddenly at the voices she heard, some were familiar.

Then came the sudden scream of a child.

_“KAI!”_

Ren dashed towards the noise but did not get very far before she had an answer.

“I see you, Ren,” A voice said from the treetops above before something sharp and fast flew by her face and stuck in the tree beside her. There was a paper wrapped tightly around the arrow. “I suggest you read that note if you want to see your student again.”

_“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?”_ Ren drew her short sword with a snarl and leapt up into the trees where she had heard the voice only to find nothing there at all. She turned around, surveying the area from above.

No sign of anybody.

Ren came down to the ground and pulled out the arrow and read the message.

_If you want to see your student alive again, come to the top of Hokage Mountain by the time the fireworks start._

_Tell no one._

_Come alone._

Ren fell to her knees with a curse. Kai had run right into their pursuers hands. There were very few choices available to Ren right now and they closed around her neck like a vice so tight it was hard to breath.

The girl got to her feet and walked to her campsite and opened the bag she had been shoving things into a few minutes before. She took the small bag of paper bombs and flash balls and attached them to the opposite leg as her senbon case, for her final small arm, Ren placed a couple of sentetsu in her senbon pouch. There was a moment where she stared at an old picture of her and her old master, Juro before putting it in her pocket. If she died tonight, she wanted to feel his presence one last time.

Plus, Ren felt she needed the reminder about what a good teacher was.

Ren hung the backpack in the tree where she and Kai had spent the night, Kai would have a good start in life if she died. He had enough sense to come back to a known safe place like she had taught him after they first started traveling together. She whispered a quick prayer to the Seven Gods and an extra one to the one who watched over warriors and travelers before she ran out of the trees and towards the village.

The people were loud, their voices seemed to come over Ren like a wave as she weaved through the crowd. The smell of rain permeated the air and made Ren’s hair stand on end like it was recharged with electricity. She double-checked the secureness of her spear and the location of her short sword. Both were ready to draw quickly. Her stomach flipped around while she pushed her way through the crowd with raspy apologies to the people she passed in their nice clothes.

Mercy, she was going to die without having owned anything pretty and impractical.

Maybe in her next life she would be lucky enough to be a silly rich girl.

She could feel the strange looks of the crowd at her back, piercing through her the way she imagined a dagger or katana would. She ducked down an alleyway to get off the main road and walk along the wall. Ren pulled the hood of her coat over her head and tilted back on her heels to get a better look at that mountain. Her breath caught in her throat. The faces of the previous Hokage seemed judgmental, like they could see her. An outsider. Deemed unworthy to be within these walls, they knew that she would be fighting to kill at the top of their heads and perhaps saw it as an action beyond disrespect.

Ren decided to apologize on the way up.

The smell of rain offered the girl some comfort as she made it to the Konoha Gate, Ren moved seamlessly with a crowd of people looking for their lodgings to move past the guards, breaking away once she was out of their line of sight, she risked one final peek at the world beyond, possibilities of living another day running through her mind at incomprehensible speeds.

_Kai, I’m so sorry._

Ren turned away from the Konoha gate.

_I haven’t been a good teacher._

She ran through the streets as it began to rain.

_And I have not been a good friend._

She pushed her way through the crowd. Some just stepped aside when they saw the shining spear at her back, others bumped into her in their rush to get out of the suddenly turned weather.

_If we survive this, I will do better. I will be better. I will teach you everything I know without reservation or fear._

She scrambled down an alley and up a fire escape to get to the roof of a residential building to begin her desperate leaps and bounds over the rooftops.

_I’m tired of being alone._

Her foot slipped as she landed on a rooftop at the mountain base, Ren slammed the head of her spear into the roof to stop herself from falling to the street below. She quickly righted herself and began her frenzy of running leaps, culminating with a jump to the mountain itself that she immediately began to scramble up as thunder rumbled.

_I missed Juro to much and maybe I saw you as a way of getting back the time that was snatched away._

Ren’s hand slipped on a rock, she adjusted her grip and sent her chakra to her fingertips to help her dig in. She jumped and clawed her way up the mountainside towards the scaffolding that was in front of an empty section of the face, perhaps to start measurements for the next Hokage.

_I’ve never had friends before, it’s long past time I learned to be one!_

Her grip slipped again. Ren gave a determined shout as she placed her feet on a jutting rock edge, using it to leap towards the metal scaffolding. For a few terrifying moments she hung in the air before pulling herself up by the metal beams, her teeth grinding together as she eyed the top of the mountain. No force on heaven or earth would stop a teacher from protecting their student.

_This way I’m living, I’ll die before I’m twenty, and I will not lead you down that road!_

Ren ascended the peak, whispered a brief apology to the former Hokages and saw the silhouette of a child slumped on the ground in front of a large rock. Ren’s jaw clenched and she ran forward thoughtlessly, sliding through the mud on her knees in her rush to get to her student.

“Kai!” Ren’s voice was horse and raspy. “Wake up! Who did this to you?”

Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as bruises formed around his eyes and left cheek. His bo staff lay broken next to him and his right arm and shoulder were resting at unnatural angles. Kai had tried to put up a fight and clearly got beaten for his resistance. Ren’s rage burned hot in her belly as she checked his pulse, faint but steady. He was barely conscious, but he could survive this with medical help. She was afraid he may have internal damage.

She cut through the chains around his ankles with a small electrical charge to her spear before shaking Kai’s uninjured shoulder.

“You need to wake up! _Kai!”_

One of the boy’s eyes opened, “Ren? You came…?”

“I guess he was right about you after all,” A high pitched giggle came from behind them. Ren stood quickly, her spear in her hands in a defensive stance, keeping Kai as hidden and protected as she could. “You were all he talked about. How you would come to save him and kill us all.”

They were surrounded by seven people.

Ren’s jaw clenched.

The giggler was a short woman with a smiling mask and a large battle-axe standing next to a taller woman with a matching mask who held a bow while the other figures remained shadowed for the moment.

“So which one of you psychos beat the hell out of my boy?”

The biggest man Ren had ever seen raised his hand proudly as he rested his warhammer on his shoulder, “He got mouthy and hit my girlfriend in the face with his stick. It seemed fair.”

Ren smiled darkly. “Then I guess I’ll kill you first.”

There was nothing but the sound of the rain hitting the rocks and ground around them. Ren shifted into an on guard position, placing the pommel of her spear next to Kai. He put his hand on it and whimpered as she pulled him to his feet. Ren could hear him and felt a slight tug on the back of her coat as Kai righted himself.

“Kai. Go down to the village and don’t look back.”

“I can still fight!” Kai wheezed, showing the obvious pain he was in as she felt him stagger.

“Do as I say,” Ren’s voice was quiet as she put on her white tiger mask, “I’ll find you later.”

Kai staggered once more as he moved backwards away from the combatants a if he were in a fog. The boy for sure had a concussion.

Ren’s knees buckled as her heart threatened to leap free from her chest as she struggled to breathe. She had to give Kai a chance to move away. “Who sent you? Was it Masaru?”

The group laughed, “Who the hell is that?” A man stepped out into Ren’s line of sight, he was clad in the black garb of a ronin. Ren felt sick. “Your boyfriend?”

Kai turned his back to run as the big man who had hurt him began to draw his weapon to finish off the small boy. He pulled back his arm to throw his kunai into Kai’s back. Only problem was the senbon now sticking out of his neck.

A horrible scream split the air as his kunai dropped to the earth and his warhammer followed with such force it seemed to shake the ground while blood poured from his neck.   
  
Missed. Hit the artery. _Lovely._

The archer was screaming.

Ren rushed forward to put him out of his misery with a quick cut to the throat with her spear before facing what remained of her opponents. Ren couldn’t say he wasn’t warned.

“Six against one isn’t fair,” Ren felt a calmness consume her body as her heart beat loudly in her ears, “you needed one more person to even the odds.”

**END CHAPTER 3**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Half done with the next chapter. It's being carefully monitored for clarity.


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